


Left by the pond

by Eyebulb



Category: Brave (2012), How to Train Your Dragon (2010), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Amnesia, Gen, Human!Jack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-02
Updated: 2013-11-26
Packaged: 2017-12-07 07:53:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/746109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eyebulb/pseuds/Eyebulb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So.. Summary, what have we got here?<br/>We've got a group of teenagers, some new to the small town of Burgess and some with a family who knows the town inside out. We have a trip to a mysterious "frozen" lake and an unconscious boy with a serious case of amnesia. What will happen, I wonder.</p>
<p>Will eventually have some Jarida, just because I feel like there aren't enough of it.<br/>This is my first fanfiction in a long time so I'm hoping for some feedback. If I am to start with these I want to be good at it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Oh, there she goes again. Like a mouse on ecstasy, she is"  
Merida giggled, trying to stand up for her friend by punching the tall and tattooed boy in the shoulder.  
"Maybe so, but she's our little druggie" Her smile was big and bright and forced a cheeky grin out of Aster while he nudged her shoulder back.

By the laugh that followed, she returned her gaze to the teen-aged girl skipping giddily ahead of them. She was never one for standing still or shutting up, that one, making her kind of an opposite to the rest of the group, who were noticeably calmer, but she was also that little battery in the group that drove them all forward. 

"Aren't we there yet? This seems like a very long way just to see a frozen lake" Hiccup said.  
"It's not just any frozen lake, though, is it? It's a lake forever sealed with ice to hide its inner secrets and corpses" Astrid, the oldest of them all with a fetish for any kind of studs put on her most dramatic voice to begin the story of the mysterious lake of Burgess. "They say that a boy fell through the ice a long time ago, saving his sister from the same faith. And while she watched desperately as her brother sank deeper into the cold water, knowing there was nothing she could do but to scream and cry in desperate need of help, the hole in the lake began to seal itself with newly fresh ice. By the time anyone heard her scream, the lake was frozen solid and no one could get to the boy..."  
"Really cool story and all...b-"  
"..The lake's been frozen ever since, together with the corpse, never to be found again" Astrid raised her head high, proud over her story, and turned her gaze to the boy who had interrupted her earlier with a smug but fond smile. In return, Hiccup rolled his eyes.  
"Well, even if that highly unlikely story was true, there's no way a lake could be frozen solid in the middle of su-" The high-pitched scream that carried itself back to them got them all to stop in their tracks and look forward in worry.  
"Punzie?" Merida shared a look with the others before breaking into a sprint quickly followed by the rest of them. Rapunzel was a giddy and girly girl who would run off in the same fashion as a child and even though she was tougher than she looked, you couldn't help but to worry about her accidentally ending up killing herself. 

"Oh, I don't dare to think what happened. Maybe she fell into the lake, or- or tripped and broke her neck or.."  
"Oh for gods sake, will you shut it, Fishlegs? You're not helping, you know" They all stopped in a halt when they reached a back covered with long blonde hair that traced itself all the way down to her knees. The girl in front of them was bouncing on the spot, but to everybody's surprise, seemed just fine. "Wha.."

"I found the lake! Look! It's right over there! Oh doesn't it look beautiful!?" The excited Rapunzel kept jumping around and pointing while she said it. Utterly giddy about the glimpse of water that could be spotted just a few meters ahead of them. Wait.. water? 

The group hurried over to where Rapunzel was leading them and eventually stopped gathered up on a line. In front of them there was indeed a lake and it shone bright from the sun hitting the surface and was beautiful among the trees that surrounded it. Only problem was, it was certainly not frozen.  
"See, told you it was impossible for a lake to be frozen in the middle of summer" Hiccup sighed.  
"Maybe it's the wrong one?" Flynn said hopefully.  
"No, there aren't any other lakes in Burgess, this must be the one" Astrid claimed, clearly disappointed with the outcome of their findings. Merida squat down to trace a finger in the water, gasping in surprise when she noticed how cold the water was. It might not be frozen, but that was odd, seeing as it was in the middle of summer and, judging by the size of the lake, the water should be warm enough to swim in. This, though, wasn't. 

Another high-pitched scream surrounded them followed by a wave of groans from the group. This time there was no doubt who the scream was coming from.  
"What now, Punzie? Did you find a rabbit?" Flynn teased, looking over to where she was standing frozen in front of a bush. Punzie herself didn't answer, but only stood tensed up and completely still while slowly shaking her head. If you looked close enough you could see her beginning to shiver. Her reaction caused Merida to straighten herself and begin to walk slowly towards the girl. Punzie was frightened, her tensed up exterior gave that away, and it began to worry Merida.  
"Punz, are you alright?" She extracted a hand to touch the blonde girl's shoulder which stirred a reaction in her.  
"Omg! Omg! Omg!" She squealed again and turned away from the sight she'd stumbled upon, still not giving away what she saw. By now, Flynn, followed by Hiccup and Astrid, had grown impatient and was moving rapidly towards the bushes.  
"If this does turn out to be a rabbit, I'll be highly disappointed.." Flynn mumbled as he arrived first by the bushes. What he did see though, which was clearly not a rabbit, made him jump back and scream the most girly scream either of them had ever heard coming from the boy.  
"What? What is it?" Merida asked curiously, still with her hand on Rapunzel's shoulder, trying to calm her down. She hadn't gotten the chance to take a look yet, with the girls second sudden outburst and all and was now dying to at least find something interesting around this lake. 

All eyes, except Rapunzel's which were stubbornly closed, were now fixed on Flynn, waiting for his answer.  
"Guys, I think we found our corpse.."


	2. Chapter 1: The Boy without a Name

"Is he dead?"

"How long do you think he's been lying here?" 

"Where did he even come from?"

The group of people, Merida, Flynn, Hiccup, Astrid and Aster, was now standing around the bush looking down at a quite unbelievable sight. There in front of them lie a brown-haired boy, covered in a thin layer of clothes, soaking wet and unconscious. Judging by the state of him, he seemed to have been coming out of the lake, either getting himself out of the water or being dragged out and left behind by someone else. Maybe someone tried to save him but realized he was already dead and didn't know what else to do but to leave him behind to rot. However disturbing that might be that the person in question didn't think of contacting anyone to take care of the body. That of course, being that he was in fact dead at all. Neither of them dared to step forward to find out. 

"Shouldn't we do something?" Hiccups voice was muffled by his own shock but the message carried itself forward clear enough for the group to cringe at their own cowardliness. Merida nodded and sighed before taking a tiny step towards the boy.   
"Right! We can do CPR, right? Just follow the steps we've been taught at school" She reasoned and sat herself down on her knees by the side of the boy, careful not to get too close or to touch him. She felt at lost for what to do. Her idea seemed reasonable enough, but the problem was that she couldn't even remember how the steps went. What was first?   
"Anyone know how to...?" she left the question hanging, glancing back at the four of them who looked on with big eyes. After a second, Aster cleared his throat. "Shake him a bit, ye? Try to get a response out of him, right?" The others nodded and Merida hesitantly laid her hands on each side of his shoulders and gently shook him.   
"Hallo....? Guy... are you alive?" No response.  
"I think you have to shake harder, mate" Merida did was she was told and repeated the question again still without any response from the boy laying on the ground underneath her.   
"Slap him in the face!" Flynn exclaimed.  
"I'm not gonna slap him!"   
"That's what they do in movies.."  
"No!"  
"Check his pulse?" Astrid piped up, Merida nodded approvingly at the more sane and reasonable idea coming from the blonde girl.  
"That's a good idea!" she said, giving Flynn a pointed look before turning her attention back and hesitantly taking one of his hands to feel for a pulse. Behind her the group stood expectantly, if not a bit impatiently. 

"Can you feel anything?" Hiccup asked quietly, trying not to disturb her. Merida shook her head slowly.   
"I don't know, maybe.. I can't tell if it's his pulse or just blood pumping through my own bloody veins!" frustration started to boil up inside of her and she was starting to regret taking the initiative in the first place. She wasn't sure she actually wanted to find out if the soaked boy in front of them was alive or not, scared that the latter would be the case and they'd have to finish the job of getting the corpse away like someone else possibly neglected to do. Wouldn't that be a nice story to tell when they came back to school from their holidays? "And what have you been doing this lovely summer?" "Oh, just gotten rid of a body, that's all."

"Try the neck, it's supposed to be easier there right?" Again Merida did as she was told and let go of the hand to put her fingers on the side of the boys neck. He was very cold, she noticed. But that might not be so odd considering he was still wet and the water had been freezing. She gasped happily when she felt a slow and weak beat of a pulse underneath her fingers. "I can feel it! He's not dead! I mean, it's weak but it's there!"  
A chorus of sighs erupted around her from the group, and she could swear she could even hear Rapunzel and Fishlegs, who dared not to go near, let out their own relief in nervous laughter.   
"Well that's a relief" Hiccup exclaimed allowing himself some time to be glad before falling silent again. "What now? What do we do to wake him up?" 

Before anyone could answer, and Merida had fixed another pointed look at Flynn to dare him to bring up the slap-method again, a familiar squeal was heard right by them. All eyes turned to the blonde girl who had apparently dared to step up to them and was now staring with a frightened expression at the boy in front of her. Apparently the good news that he was alive hadn't been enough for Rapunzel to keep her from freaking out by the sight of him. And now she wouldn't stop screaming. Great. 

Merida groaned loudly before standing up and grabbing the girl by her shoulders.  
"Punzie! Punz, calm down, will ye?" She stared at the girl forcing her to look right back into her eyes and eventually shutting her mouth, she was still stiff as a rock but at least now she wasn't screaming anymore. However, Merida knew that there was no way that she was going to stay calm for long, she didn't seem to have it in her. And having a ticking bomb among a gang of otherwise freaked out teenagers while they were trying not to have a corpse on their hands, wasn't to recommend. That gave her an idea.   
"Look, why don't you go back and find my mum, ye? Bring her back here, she'll know what to do" She looked at the girl expectantly and was relieved when she started to nod. "Good, now run off, we'll do the best we can here" Merida led her away in the right direction before sitting herself down next to the boy again with a sigh.

"So, mouth to mouth?" Merida shot a look at Flynn that clearly said "are you serious?" before feeling betrayed as the other three nodded in agreement.   
"That might just help, mate" Aster said giving her a thoughtful but sly grin. He was no doubt enjoying putting Merida in this position, no bother about how serious the situation actually was. Suppose joking around about it was their way of letting off some of the tension they were feeling.

Merida sighed and turned herself back to the boy to make herself ready by placing her hands on his chest. She was quite certain she actually remembered how to do this, it was one of the few things her mother tried to teach her that actually stuck. Seemed having a mother who was a doctor with a desire to make her only daughter follow in her footprints actually helped from time to time. Merida stood a bit higher on her knees and started pressing down on the boys chest as hard as she dared. After all, her mother had told her that it was better to break a rib than to let them die but that didn't mean that the idea of breaking a rib wasn't an unpleasant thought. 

She pumped and blew air into his lungs just as her mother had taught her and was getting more and more anxious by the second. He might still be alive but that didn't mean that he couldn't die any second. They didn't know how long he'd been lying there, or why he was unconscious in the first place. Maybe it wasn't even some drowning related accident like Merida first thought. Maybe he'd hit his head and passed out because of that. Maybe he was ill. Maybe the CPR she was doing right now wouldn't really help at all or, maybe it'd make things worse. 

That's when the coughing began and gasps erupted among the group. Merida stopped and held her hands up in defense. She was too shocked to actually realize that what was happening was that it had worked and that the boy was actually now having a coughing fit, trying hard to get the water out of his lungs. Merida didn't have the time to react before Astrid had rushed to him to try and get him on his side, so that he wouldn't choke on what he was so desperately trying to get up. 

\-----

Elinor was a humble woman. Clean, well behaved and kind. At least, that's what she was trying to be. She was always nice to strangers and tried to see the best in people. She cared about her family and even though her daughter might not always see it that way, she wanted the best for all of them. And though it happened that she would sometimes lash out, she tried to keep calm and patient most of the time. But when a hysterical girl practically burst into her home without knocking and wouldn't slow down in her talking for Elinor to understand, she became close to losing it.

"Calm down, lady! What is the matter with you?" Elinor raised her voice against her will and dropped the dishes she was doing in order to grab onto the giddy Rapunzel. 

Rapunzel in her turn took several deep breaths in order to try to calm herself down and catch her breath. She had been running, that much was certain. Elinor could honestly say that she was very surprised that it was Rapunzel and Rapunzel alone who had come here to tell her whatever she was in such a hurry to tell. She was beginning to worry that the reason for it not being Merida who had come was that something had happened, maybe it was an accident. She had told her that they were going to the lake, hadn't she? Had they fallen in? Elinor grabbed onto Rapunzel a little harder without realizing and was now looking straight at her. 

"Now tell me, dear. What are you trying to tell me?" She spoke hurriedly but still manage to get out every word without falling back onto her thick Scottish accent. Rapunzel looked confused for a moment, like she couldn't remember why she had come here in the first place before she began rambling again. 

All Elinor could get out of the rambling Rapunzel was words like "Emergency", "Merida thought", "Doctor" and "We need you" but that was enough for Elinor to rush into her room to grab her bad without a word and storm out of the house, quickly followed by Rapunzel. 

"Where are they?" Elinor asked Rapunzel who had now gained speed and was in front of Elinor. She looked like the wanted to run, but Elinor didn't think that they would've gotten to her and not call 911, if it was such a rush. Rapunzel pointed in front of her and threw a look back at Elinor to explain.  
"They're at the lake, over there, c'mon!" 

\-----

Both Astrid and Merida was sitting next to him now. After his coughing fit he had fallen right back to sleep and was now once again lying among them unconscious. At least now he seemed better. His breathing had developed into long breaths and Merida, along with the rest of them had no idea of what to do next other than to wait for Rapunzel to come back with her mum. Now they were all just sort of sitting. Flynn and Aster kept keeping an eye out for Rapunzel's return, Fishlegs was still keeping a distance, drawing circles in the water with a stick and Hiccup, Astrid and Merida was gathered around the body, making sure he didn't die while they waited. 

"Do you think he will be okay?" Hiccup spoke to no one in particular. Both Merida and Astrid cringed automatically. It wasn't something either wanted to dwell on. After all, they had hoped that they'd be at least a little bit older before they watched someone die, specially someone as young as this boy appeared to be. Aster had risen himself from the spot he was sitting at and walked over to take a look at the boy.   
"Well, he's breathing alright now, ain't he?" He got a few silent nods as an answer. "He'd probably be fine" He said and sat down next to Hiccup. They all knew that he couldn't possibly know if he'd be fine or not but his words still helped calming their conscious a bit. After all he was right, he was breathing fine now.

"Hey, someone's coming, I think it's them!" Flynn called to the rest of them. And surely enough, in the distance you could see a rather tall, dark-haired woman dressed in a pair of tight-fitted jeans and a shirt carrying a bag over her shoulder. Next to her was a familiar bouncy girl with ridiculously long blond hair tied up in a braid. Rapunzel was practically running, or skipping more like, desperately trying to get Elinor to hurry up, the older woman was walking rather fast but it was apparently not fast enough according to Rapunzel. In just a minute, they arrived at the spot. Elinor was taking a look at all of them and in the end settled for her daughter.

"What's going on here? Rapunzel was rather desperate about getting me here but I couldn't understand a word other than that it was an emergency" Rapunzel looked guilty behind Elinor but at least she had gotten her to come here and to bring her equipment, which was all they needed from her at the moment.   
"We found a boy, mum. We don't know what happened but he's unconscious..." Merida didn't get to explain further before her mum hurried to them and spotted the boy with a gasp. Then she sat herself down on her knees and began to take a look at him, checking his pulse and breathing and whatnot. The others looked on in silence, even Rapunzel and Fishlegs was now gathered around to see how it was going. While her mother worked she was asking questions about what had happened from the time that they found him, Merida explained everything and at the mention at the CPR Merida had performed her mother gave her a proud and touched smile and Merida couldn't help but to smile back. She wouldn't ever admit it, but the few occasions her mother was actually proud of her felt rather good. Merida just wished she would've been more proud over the person Merida actually was rather than the person Elinor wanted her to be. 

After a while Elinor stood and directed her gaze upon the rest of the teenagers.   
"We need to get him inside, get him warm and dry. Does anyone have a shirt of sorts that we can wrap him in now...?"  
"Is a vest okay?"  
"Yes, anything will do. Thank you, Hiccup. Well, Our house is closest so we'll take him there. C'mon and help carry him"   
Aster and Flynn sprung to action first after that Elinor had put the vest on him and wrapped him in a thin blanket that she had in her bag. They both slung an arm over their shoulder and hoisted him up in a half standing position. He might have been a rather skinny looking boy, but man, was he heavy.   
"Astrid, Merida, Grab the legs!" Flynn exclaimed and tried to get a better grip on the boy while the girls helped carry him towards the home of DunBroch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the sort of late update.   
> And I am sorry to say that the next chapter might take a while as well.   
> I am finishing of my last school year which means that I have quite a lot to do and don't really have the time to write.   
> I have some ideas ready and part of chapters and all of that, so it hopefully won't take too long.
> 
> I plan on gathering up a few chapters before I post so that you won't have to wait for too long in between chapters. 
> 
> Also, I'm not writing a full-out accent on Merida because I personally think it can get pretty hard to read and that's just no fun. I'm trying to maybe drop some hints, but otherwise I won't write in an accent.


	3. Chapter 2: Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you! I'm sorry for the delay but I'm happy to say that I'm now graduated and have some spare time to actually sit down and write. And guess what? I have two chapters ready for you! 
> 
> I will try to be faster at this and as promised before, I won't give up on this story so hang in there!

They were gathered up in the living room now. The 7 of them were spread out on the floor and couch, Merida's mother was sitting in the big armchair that usually was her father Fergus' favourite spot and one of the triplets was tightly wrapped in her arms after causing a ruckus and trying to sneak into the sick boys current room, the two other triplets were trying to help their brother out of her grip to no use. By the opening to the living room stood Toothiana, a friend of theirs who they had met on their way home and who was eager to help. 

She was the one of the group who was more of an adult than a teenager, having graduated this year and already having a spot as a dentist's apprentice. She was the only one of them with some sort of a job, though most of them hadn't bothered to get one since they still had a year left in school and Merida knew for a fact that at least two of the remaining students were going to college. 

Toothiana, or Tooth as they called her, was a very colourful person. She always dressed in different sparkling colours, loved coloured lenses and even had one blue and one purple stripe in her hair. It sounds like a colour-bomb, but she pulled it off brilliantly with her dark skin.  
They had brought the boy to one of the guest rooms in Merida's gigantic house and almost directly after they've put him down on the bed did Elinor start shouting out things for them to get. They all ran around in the house like it would have been an actual emergency room getting blankets and new clothes and whatnot, things that could help to warm him up. Elinor had told them that he seemed to have hypothermia but that it wasn't so bad that they needed to take him to a hospital. Specially not since he seemed to be breathing alright. Now he was locked up in a room, sleeping in a cocoon of blankets. He hadn't woken up again yet but Elinor believed it to be more from exhaustion rather than unconsciousness from the cold. 

Elinor spoke up.   
"Merida, if he wakes up while I'm not here, give him something warm to drink but don't give him tea or coffee, give him something else." Merida just nodded slowly. She was still in shock, at least she felt like she'd been in shock for so long that her body had stopped functioning. She was tired, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep even if she wanted to. The events from today had turned out to be a little more exciting that she had wanted and she wished that they would've just found a boring old lake instead, that would've been fine by her. Instead they got a boy who had possibly almost drowned and who now lied in a bed upstairs ill. The thought that he could've died on them didn't get pass Merida and she wondered if the others was thinking about the same thing. 

She scanned the room, looking at the rest of those who shared in the experience. Most of them had a frown on their faces as if they were still trying to figure out what just happened. Merida had to admit that she was still trying to grasp it herself. Flynn was trying to re-braid Rapunzel's hair in a way to pass time, or maybe just to get something to think about. Meanwhile Rapunzel just looked like a kicked puppy. It had shaken her up quite a bit. Aster was standing by the window with his arms crossed, looking out. He had a deep frown on him and he almost looked angry, maybe he was. Fishlegs, Hiccup and Astrid sat next to each other on the couch, they were all staring blankly out in the open. Elinor had let go of the last triplet and was now getting up and moving to the kitchen to finish the dishes she had started before, she saw no point of sitting around and wait for something to happen after all. Out of all of them, Elinor had the most experience with these kind of things, and wasn't as shaken up about it as the rest. Being a doctor meant that she could function normally even if someone died on her. She knew how to separate emotions from actions, that's more than you could say for the rest of them.  
Finally Merida looked to Toothiana and was surprised to find her looking back. She looked like she was about to say something but thought better of it. She had some questions she wanted to be answered but didn't dare ask them when the mood in the room was as tense as it was. Merida gave her a questioning look but she just shrugged as a response, she supposed that any questions could wait. 

But Merida didn't want her to wait. This silence had been going on for too long and it was beginning to unnerve her. She felt restless and stressed out and in need of finding something to do instead of sitting here and letting her thoughts take over. She was certain that they would drive her mad at any second now. After all, she already felt a little mad.   
Clapping her hands on her knees and sighing she stood up hastily. 

"Well, I don't know about you, but I don't want to sit around here any longer" she said. Her voice cut through the silence like a razor blade, making most of them snap out of their trances. First one to speak was Aster, who sighed. "I think I'm gonna go home, da's probably gonna call the police soon" Even though it seemed like a joke, he spoke this with no emotion. Not even with the anger he seemed to be having before. He pushed himself off of the window and started walking towards Tooth and the door. When he passed Merida he put a hand gently on her shoulder "Call if he wakes up, ye?" Merida nodded and watched him disappear behind the wall and shortly after heard the door open and close.   
Next to move was Astrid and Fishlegs, both just bidding their goodbyes to the group and Elinor and Astrid casting a short look towards Hiccup before they were both out. Now there was only Her, Hiccup, Rapunzel, Flynn and Tooth left and it was now that Tooth decided to speak up.

"Where did you find him?" Tooth looked uncertain and spoke with a quiet voice. After all, they all looked pretty shook up and she didn't want to cause anyone to break because of her. She moved silently over to the couch and sat down next to Hiccup, Merida herself sat herself down again with a thump. 

"We were going to that bloody lake" She muttered, still kind of irritated over what they'd stumbled upon. 

"Why?"

"Cus Astrid said it was frozen. But instead we found HIM and now I just wish it would've been frozen instead." She muttered the last part silently. To be fair, she was kind of glad that they managed to save him, he didn't die. But she hadn't wished for that to be needed to begin with and she hadn't wished to be a part of it either. 

"Or that we wouldn't have gone at all" Hiccup whispered. This was the most he had spoken at all from the moment they decided to bring the boy home. He had helped just like the rest of them but acted more in a trance. Like going on auto-pilot.

Tooth sighed and ran a hand carefully through her hair. She wanted to make them feel better, but she didn't know what to do. The boy seemed alright, Elinor had said that he'd be okay so the worry should be over now. But at the same time Tooth couldn't blame their reactions. Seeing a little boy panic when the dentist was going to pull a tooth out had shook her up so she could only imagine how the others was feeling right now. 

"He's going to be alright. Elinor did say that his hypothermia wasn't that severe" She tried and smiled hopefully. Flynn was the first to answer her smile.

"Yeah, I mean, we found him in time. We brought him back here and got him warmed up and all that. We practically saved him" Flynn spoke lightly and finished off Rapunzel's braid with an open and optimistic smile that seemed to wear off on Rapunzel as well. Tooth even thought that she could see a tug at the corner of Merida's lips. "I mean, think about it. We're heroes! Bring on the damsel's in distress!"   
At this, a relieving laughter broke out between all of them.   
\----  
Merida was placed in the living room in front of the TV with three sleeping monsters all gathered up on her. The sound was turned down so that she could hear the conversation in the kitchen. When her dad Fergus had come home from his one week long work-trip, Elinor had dragged him into the kitchen and told Merida to watch the triplets. Now she was explaining the events that had occurred two days earlier and how they now have an seemingly unconscious boy staying in one of the guest rooms. 

Fergus had been worried and began to question Elinor as to why the boy wasn't in a hospital instead of here and Elinor had in return told him that she didn't think he needed to be there. Although Merida suspected on her voice that she was beginning to doubt it. 

After some small arguing, Elinor came into the living room, a cup in her hand. She spoke quietly. "Merida, could you bring this up to him tonight?" Merida silently got up without waking the boys and walked towards her mother with a skeptic look. "He hasn't waken up any other night we've done this, why do you think it'd be any different now?" 

"See this as a last shot, it's better to be prepared to give him something warm instead of having to prepare it after he's waken up" Merida still looked skeptical, Elinor sighed. "If he doesn't wake up tonight I promise that we'll take him to the hospital first thing tomorrow. But for now, can you please?" A small smile tugged on Merida's lips and she nodded, pleased. 

"Sure mum"


	4. Chapter 3: Look who it is!

It was dark when he opened his eyes. So dark that he couldn't tell if he actually opened them at all or if he just thought he did. _Wait, did he?_ He slowly tried to move his hand and managed to bring it up over his face before the muscles gave out and he smacked himself with it. That hurt, and okay, his eyes had been open.

He felt tired, his body felt tired. He knew for a fact that he could move but at the same time it didn't feel like he could. He felt batted and exhausted and thought that if he moved now he would probably collapse. His chest hurt with every breath he took, like something had tried to claw itself out of his lungs and his head kept pounding furiously.

He looked straight up towards the ceiling, slowly becoming more used to the dark and starting to see contours of his surroundings. Everything was still blurry though, dark and blurry, it all just looked like shadows. There was a shadow of a door to his right, and next to it was a shadow of a dresser with some flowers and some more stuff that he couldn't make out.

On his left there was a window, but the curtains were closed so no light made it in. There was also a chair. It looked like a kitchen chair and it was standing right next to the bed like someone had brought it up here as a provicionality. He thought that maybe they had, whoever this chair belonged to. Come to think of it, whoever this house belongs to. _Where was he?_

The room suddenly filled with light and he had to close his eyes quickly before the light damaged his eyes enough to make him blind. His head seemed to agree as a pain shot right through it. He could hear a humming voice, probably from the intruder, but he didn't dare to take a look just yet. From a distance, he could hear someone call up to the intruder, but he couldn't make out what was said. Apparently, though, the intruder could, because she called back.

"I know mum! I'm doing it now!" Okay, so, that was loud. He wanted to tell her to quiet down but he couldn't make his voice work. At least, he didn't feel like he could, he wasn't entirely sure he'd tried. He turned his head towards the sound of her humming, that had started again, and cracked open an eye to look at her. His vision was still blurry, but he could make out a slender figure, a back, and something big and red, probably hair. Her back was turned, it didn't seem like she had noticed him yet. Or, noticed that he was awake, because surely they knew he was here, right?

She was busy with something, standing next to the dresser and seemed to be working with something but since her back and ridiculously big hair was in the way, he couldn't tell what.

There was yelling coming from downstairs again, but this time the voice was deep and most definitely male. The intruder groaned loudly. _Seriously, quiet down_.  
"I am, dad! Tell mum to stop worrying!"

"Will you quiet down" He said this time, or rather, that's what he intended to say. The sound that actually came out was more like a rumble of a motor that didn't actually want to start mixed with the awkward sound of puberty. But it made the intruder jump so high and scream so loud that he was surprised she didn't break something. Intestines-wise or her surroundings.

She was staring, eyes wide and chest heaving up and down rapidly. She couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. He was looking back at her with one eye, glad that she was quiet now and kind of just wanting to go back to sleep. The light didn't bother him as much as before, he actually thought he could fall asleep with it on. Had it not been for the sudden in burst of two more people. No wait, scratch that, they were five.

"Merida! What's going on? Are you alright?" She was taller, with dark long hair and a motherly face. She looked kind. Beside her was a big man, bigger than he had ever seen. He had the same hair colour as the intruder, called Merida apparently, but it wasn't quite as big. And right in front of him next to the bed, with eyes wide and wild, staring right at him, stood three identical and tiny boys. All with the same red bushy hair and big eyes. They had noticed him right away, the parents, however, hadn't noticed him yet. At least not until Merida managed to point at him.

"He's awake!" she exclaimed and for the first time since he had tried out his voice, she smiled. A big and bright smile that reached her eyes and made her entire being glow, somehow. He thought it fit her, she looked like the kind of person who smiled a lot.

The mother sprung into action immediately, getting to the dresser and at the same time pushing Merida out of the way. As quickly as she had done this she walked towards him but around the bed and sat down in the kitchen chair with something in her hands. He turned to look at her, curious about what she was up to. She brought one hand to his head to let it rest for a moment on his forehead before running it over his hair. He liked that gesture, it felt save coming from her, even if she was a stranger to him. The next thing she did was to reach out with a cup that she had been holding and at the same time giving support with her other hand on his neck.

"Here, drink this. It might not taste that good, it's only warm water, but it'll make you feel better" She helped him reach up enough to drink it and god was she right. It tasted horrible, but the warmth of it felt good in his chest, numbing down the pain he'd felt and warming up his entire body like a blanket. Not that he had been cold before, but it still felt good. It also helped his dry throat.

She lay him down again and he closed his eyes. He really wanted to sleep, he still felt exhausted, but in a way he wasn't really tired. The hand was back on his forehead again and he could hear hushed voices and rumbles of feet against the floor. When he opened his eyes again a moment later, the older woman was the only one left.  
She was looking at him and smiling a warm smile, the hand had started to pet him again.

"How are you feeling?" Honestly, he felt like shit. Despite the warm water his insides still burned, his head still pounded and he was still tired. He also had no idea where he was or why. Which wasn't really an ideal situation to be in. However, his voice still felt as if it hadn't been used in an eternity so all he managed to get out was..  
"Tired"  
The woman nodded. She had a sympathetic look on her face.  
"I understand, I would be surprised if you felt up to running " She chuckled slightly and he smiled. Or tried to. "Do you feel any pain?" He nodded. He didn't feel like trying to be strong and saying that, "no, no worries, I'll be fine". No, right now he just wanted to be taken care of. He wanted her to get rid of the annoying pain he was feeling and make him alright again.

The woman got up and walked back to the dresser again but it didn't take long before she returned with tiny little white pills that she handed to him.  
"Take these. It's only painkillers" She helped him again by lifting his head and helping him drink the warm water after he'd shakingly popped two pills into his mouth. Killing pain did sound good, after all.

"Now, I suggest you rest a little more. It'll take some time for the pills to do their work but if you sleep you won't notice the pain, after all. I will come back to check on you in a while" She got up from the chair again and put the water on the small table that stood next to the bed. She then made her way around the bed again just as he closed his eyes. The last thing he noticed was when it suddenly got dark again and then he drifted off in a well wanted sleep.

\----

The next time he woke up it was bright outside. He could tell without opening his eyes so he guessed that they'd opened the curtains this time. If not, that was one very bright sun. Hushed voices could be heard next to him. They seemed to be quiet for his sake, but they were both very close. He opened his eyes, and right he was. The older woman from before was once again occupying the kitchen chair and seemed to be having a heated discussion with Merida, who was standing next to her and looking annoyed. They both stopped however when they noticed him. Merida beamed at him with that brilliant smile of hers and the woman had put on the calm and sympathetic smile she had the night before. He wondered for a second how long they had been in here before the woman addressed him.

"Good Morning! How are you feeling?"  
"Alright" He croaked out. Because it was true, he felt quite alright. The pain wasn't all that bad, he figured that was because the painkillers, or sleep, or both. The headache was gone completely but his lungs were still pretty sore, although not at all as bad as before. All in all, he felt alright.

She lay her hand on his forehead, trying to feel for a fever but luckily enough, didn't find one. Seemed like he was recovering and like a visit to the hospital wouldn't be necessary. Elinor was quite sure of this before but she'll admit that she had been close to calling some help when he hadn't woke up in two days. Then yesterday, or earlier this morning depending on how you see it, he had woken up. It had been a relief to all of them. And it was also why Merida had been so keen on staying with her for whenever he woke up a second time. Elinor had advised her against it, telling her not to overwhelm him but Merida did have a soft spot for breaking Elinor's rules. So here they were, the two of them with the boy, who now was awake and seemed much better this time. Maybe it'd be safe to ask?

"Would you mind if we ask you some questions?" To her relief he shook his head.  
"What do you remember? Do you remember anything about what happened to you? About why you're here?" He took some time to let the questions sink in. He hadn't thought much about that. He hadn't really had the time to in between his unconsciousness and to be honest he hadn't really worried about it either. Now though, now his thoughts were spinning. Desperately trying to get a hold of anything that could explain to him why he was here. Why he was lying in a strangers bed, in a strangers house. Why he was sick. Just trying to get a hold of anything but finding nothing. Nothing at all. Except..

"I-I remember my name"

"What is it?"

"Merida!"

"What?"

He smiled at their antics. She seemed like a fiery one. "It's Jack"  
"Is that short for Jackson?" This time, the woman only rolled her eyes, making Jack chuckle.  
"Yes" They locked eyes for a second and she smiled at him. A very fond one this time and he smiled back at her all he could. The moment didn't last long though.  
"Do you have a last name?" Merida asked. Jack broke the contact and thought. He did, didn't he? Oh, yes.

"Overland, and you?"  
She was back to smiling now, that big and bright one she had, and stood up straighter than before as to being proud.  
"Merida DunBroch, at you service" Jack wanted to laugh out loud at that, but his lungs gave him a sting of pain and he ended up making a grimace instead. This caught the woman's attention and she turned to her daughter.

"Merida, would you mind leaving for a minute?"  
"But mum!"  
"Please, Merida. Just give him some space to recover, we don't want to make it wo-"  
"I don't mind" Jack cut in. He didn't really. It was fun to have someone in the room that didn't act as serious as the situation was. Fun was a nice distraction and one that Jack welcomed dearly. It also seemed like they were getting into an argument and he really didn't want that. He was glad that the woman seemed to drop it as well and instead they all fell quiet, until Jack started to try to sit.

"What are you doing?" The woman asked, concerned. She hold onto his arm with one of her hands but didn't do anything more, she didn't help him up nor did she push him down.  
"I want to sit up" Jack said and tried once again to get his muscles to work.  
"Are you sure? You might get dizzy, you're head's not used to-"  
"Yes, I'm sure" And sure he was. He felt helpless when he was lying down. Like a weakling. A bug someone could smash whenever they wanted. Like someone to pity. He didn't want that if they were to talk about what happened to him. He didn't want pity because it made him feel lost, like he'd done something wrong. And he didn't like to be a failure.  
The hand on his arm was no longer still, it was helping him sitting up now that he had been determined to do so, and for that he was grateful. Soon he was in an upright position with a pillow stocked behind his back and his head leaning against the wall. Unfortunately, she had been right about the dizziness.

"What else do you remember?" Elinor was careful when saying this. Despite his previous playful manner she could tell that his mood had changed. She had meant it what she said to Merida before, she didn't want to cause any more trouble than there already was. After all, Jack seemed to be realizing a lot just now and with the memory loss he seemed to have, Elinor understood that it could take time to take it all in.

He was getting worried now. At first he had thought that it was just tiredness that made his thoughts disappear, any thoughts. Or memories. But now he was digging deeper and trying to find even a hint of a memory other than what his name was. But he didn't remember. He didn't know what had hurt him, or how. He didn't even know what kind of hurt he was. He didn't remember an event leading up to it. But that wasn't the worst part. He couldn't remember anything before that either.  
Letting out a frustrated groan he leaned forward and put his hands over his face. Then he sighed and shook his head. "Nothing" He knew that the woman probably had to sharpen her ears a lot to be able to hear what he had said but she seemed to have gotten the hint. If the hand that was now on his back in a soothing matter was anything to go by.

"You shouldn't worry. I know that this might be hard on you, but memory-loss is a common symptom when you've suffered from hypothermia. You will get them back, even though it might take some time."  
Jack looked up to her. "Hypothermia?"  
"It's a condition where your body temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body function. It can be caused by a particularly cold winter with too little clothes or, as in your case, cold water"  
"I drowned?" The annoying feeling of worry started to kick in again.  
"At least that's what we think. We found you on land but wet, so.." Merida piped in. She seemed to have realized the seriousness in the situation now as her otherwise happy-go-lucky smile was gone. Instead she was looking sheepish and shy in a way. "You must've managed to get yourself out, at least! Or, someone else dragged you out, we don't really know"

Jack nodded silently and looked down on his hands. He was trying to comprehend all this information and he felt sick to his stomach by it. The idea of nearly drowning frightened him and the fact that he didn't know how it happened worried him. Apparently there had been no one around to help him, at least no one that stuck around, so how could he have ended up there on his own?

"How do you know that I'll get my memories back?" Jack asked the woman without lifting his gaze to meet hers.  
"I'm a doctor, I have had other patients like you" She stated calmly, and actually managed to reduce some of the nagging feeling Jack had in his stomach. It actually made him feel a bit better. He nodded, took a deep breath and looked up at both of them.

"Okay, so, who are you? And how come I ended up here and not in a hospital?"


	5. Chapter: 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am once again sorry for the delay, I have suffered from writer's block too many times in between chapters and the only ideas I get are scenarios that won't happen until further in in the story. So I've been writing a lot, just not a lot on this chapter. I had also planned for this to be a bit longer but in the end I cut the end bit off and started the next chapter with it instead since I still have to work on it. 
> 
> Something maybe interesting about the last chapter. Jack's reaction to when he woke up for the first time and how he handled being sick that time was based on my own experiences of when I awoke from an appendix operation. The feeling of being in so much pain and being so tired that you don't have a care in the world about how people view you. Although for me it wasn't the first time I woke up as I don't remember the first time because apparently I was high on morphine x) 
> 
> Anyways. I apologize for any mistakes I've made in this story, as english is not my mother tongue I'm bound to make at least some mistakes so if you can see them, you're welcome to point them out to me. 
> 
> And as always, I hope you enjoy it!

In a household three blocks away from the family DunBroch, a certain blonde girl was trying to eavesdrop on her mother's phone-conversation. There wasn't much said between the two and her mother's hushed tone had intrigued Rapunzel. Now she was disappointed to realize that even on this close distance, she couldn't hear a word that was said.  
She looked towards the door that led out. She was going to meet Flynn today. They hadn't seen each other since they found the boy because they felt the need to get time to let it sink in. But after a while she had grown more restless and worried than calm and was pleased out of her mind when Flynn had sent her a text message this morning. 

They had decided to meet up by the big yellow house with an outdoor pool that laid down the street. Rapunzel had always liked that house. The family had built it themselves and had managed quite damn well. It was the biggest house in Burgess and took up enough space for two town houses. The garden was filled with exotic flowers and weird-looking trees and they also had a built-in pool. Rapunzel was fine with her own house, she actually quite liked it, but she had to admit she was a little bit jealous. 

She heard mother Gothel hang up the phone and leaped to her feet almost immediately. 

"Who was that on the phone, mother?" She asked and followed her mother into their small kitchen. Mother Gothel was walking around doing all sorts of things and acting like she was busy and didn't really have time with Rapunzel's questions. So she waved it away with a hand.   
"Oh, no one honey, just an old friend of mine" She answered without looking her way. 

"Friend? I've never met any of your friends" Rapunzel stated mater-of-factly. She honestly didn't think that her mother had any friends, except for the parents of her friends like Elinor or the neighbours. Her mother was working at home and didn't exactly go out much, after all.   
"Oh, we don't talk much. I know him from a long time ago" She still didn't face Rapunzel and Rapunzel decided to let it go for now. She had more important things to worry about. Even if the fact that it was a he made her even more curious. Could it be that her mother actually might get a love interest? That was if she was into guys at all. Actually, Rapunzel wasn't sure. Whatever had happened to her father had been more or less a secret to her and another man was never a topic. Her mother had been single for as long as Rapunzel could remember, so she actually had no clue what she liked in a partner at all. She made a mental note to herself to bring it up again later. Right now, she had to find a way to get out. 

"Mom, I'm just gonna run to the store, we're out of milk" She turned away from her mother and headed towards the door before her mother could object, but unfortunately for her, the subtle, normal sentence caught her mother's attention.   
"Oh! But you don't have to do that, dear. I can do it later." She said and followed after. 

"It's alright, Mom. I want to" Rapunzel stood with one hand on the door handle and the other was slipping on the second shoe. She had her eyes on her mother and her heart was beating faster than usual. She sensed that her Mother didn't want her to go out and she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to convince her to let Rapunzel go. Her mother sighed.

"Rapunzel. I don't feel comfortable with you going out so soon after that little adventure of yours. I would really prefer to keep you here, at least for a little while. So I know that you're okay." 

Rapunzel realized now that telling her mother about the events that happened a few days ago had been a bad idea. Her mother was very protective of her and had probably gotten a bit shaken up after witnessing her daughter's distress. Even if it was a really small chance that something like that would happen again, Rapunzel knew out of experience that it would be hard to convince her now. 

"I'm fine, mother. And from what I've heard, so is he. Really, I've handled it and it's passed me now. Besides, it's not like it's going to happen again" She tried a chuckle but her mother's face didn't change from the concern and determinism that had been there before. 

"Still, it would calm my heart if I knew that you were safe. Rapunzel, my dear, can't you do this for me? Stay here, and I'll go to the store for milk, and maybe I'll pick up those yellow melons that you like so much. Doesn't that sound good?" 

It was Rapunzel's turn to sigh. She knew that it was hopeless to try and convince her. She had made up her mind and to argue against her was just going to get her in more trouble. She let go of the door handle and slipped off her shoes again. She even managed to give her mother a small nod and a smile before she made her way back up to her room. 

She closed the door behind her when she entered the room and threw herself on the bed with a sigh. She would have to tell Flynn that she couldn't make it. She had to send away a text and tell him that her mother told her to stay inside, even though she knew that Flynn would tell her to be a little more rebellious and sneak out anyways. That's what he always told her whenever her mom was like this. Rapunzel couldn't help it though, she loved her mother and she didn't want to see her hurt, even if she had to sacrifice some of her freedom to make her happy. She didn't entirely regret doing what her mother told her too, it kept mother Gothel happy, and therefor, Rapunzel was happy.   
Besides, Rapunzel was rebellious. She was keeping her relationship behind her mothers back for crying out loud! She's breaking the rules too! Flynn should appreciate that. She smiled to herself over her adventurous side when her phone alerted that a text message had arrived. It was an answer from her secret boyfriend.

"I was afraid of this. But maybe I could come to you? //Flynn" Rapunzel had to look at the screen two, three, no, four times to make sure that she had read it correctly. Flynn? Here? He had never been to her place before. They both decided that it was too risky. Mother Gothel would find them in a heartbeat. Why would he suddenly suggest this?   
"I don't think that's a good idea, you know it's too risky - R" Downstairs she could hear humming from her mother. She sometimes sang while she was working and she actually had a pretty nice voice. Rapunzel has always liked it when she sang and it had sparked an interest in Rapunzel as well. Singing was one of the few things they had in common.   
"Maybe you can lure her away? Just for an hour or something? I really want to see you //Flynn" Rapunzel thought to herself. Mother Gothel had told her that she could go shopping instead of her. They were out of milk although only buying milk wouldn't take an hour. No, if she was going to lure her away by sending her to the store she would have to make a bigger list of things to buy. But then again, it could work.   
"I can try - R"

\-----------  
The fact that lying still in bed wasn't believed in by Jackson Overland couldn't be stressed enough. Just the day after his second wake he began to grow restless and mad with boredom. The first day he spent in self-pity. Knowing that he couldn't get up due to Eleanor's strict orders and the fact that he himself didn't have the strength in his body to do so, left him slightly depressed about his situation. During this day he didn't speak more than a hello and one-syllable-answers every time a family member came to bring him food or check on him. Merida had at the end of the day attempted to get him to laugh and while it was a success, she at the same time got to experience the prankster that lived deep within Jack's heart. 

The second day, Merida regretted cheering Jack up. This day was spent testing Merida's limits and seeing where her buttons were and after that, pressing them all. By making her run up and down the stairs a couple of more times than necessary, asking her a bunch of questions without letting her answer even one of them and pointing out how she didn't live up to the expectations of being a girl, it eventually made her refuse to deliver any food to that room again. And Jack slowly grew bored once more.  
It was around dinner-time on the third day when footsteps coming down the stairs startled the family of DunBroch. They were slow and heavy and every once in a while you could hear a deep but determined sigh coming from the owner. In a few tense minutes a person that had been known to them through the last few days showed himself at the bottom of the stairs. 

Eleanor shared a fond smile with him and watched him unsurely making his way to an empty seat by the big dinner table. "I'm glad you came down to join us" she said and chuckled at the look of "yeah, right" that Jack gave her in return. For Jack knew that she would've rather that he stayed in bed a few days more until he was stronger and had advised him against wanting to be up and running. Lying still wasn't what Jack did and his restlessness had been a pain. Although then he was too exhausted to get out, even if he wanted to. Now, though, now nothing could stop him from getting up for the first time and having a meal somewhere other than his bed. Things still ached and he was stiff from having lied down for as long as he had, but it was bearable and that was good enough for him.

"I like your shirt!" Merida piped up from the table with a chuckle and the rest of the table followed suit shortly after. Jack looked down on himself with a small smile and just shrugged. Sure the shirt didn't really fit, he couldn't really blame them for not getting a shirt his size on such short notice. Okay so it looked a little ridiculous to wear a shirt big enough to be a dress but it sure was better than no clothes at all.

"I'm sorry, Jack. The only male clothes we have in this house belong to the triplets or Fergus. I don't think that you want to borrow clothes from Merida, do you?" Elinor said.   
A chortle was heard from the other side of the table making all of them turn to Merida with questioning eyes.

"Sorry, I just imagined him in a dress. Or! Hotpants and a tank top! Ha!" Merida managed to get out before she started laughing again. 

"Oh. Ha-ha, very funny" Jack sat down with a small smirk. "Besides.. I'd rock that dress" 

"Oh totally" Merida smirked at him, pleased that she for one got the last words. Or so she hoped, and it seemed like she would get her way when Jack, instead of adding a comment, turned to Eleanor.

"So, Elinor, how was your day?" 

Elinor herself was a bit taken aback by him addressing her. In this family, they never really made small talk like this. They usually only talked to each other at dinner when they had something important to say. So she was a little surprised, and impressed by his politeness.

"It was fine, Jack. We had a really calm day, which is much appreciated in my profession" She added a little chuckle to her joke and was pleased when Jack smiled. "How about you?"

"Oh, me? It was good! I got tons of stuff done, felt really productive" He said and smiled. Eleanor did too, and decided to play along with his obvious sarcasm. 

"Oh did you?" She faked being impressed and he nodded in return.

"Yeah, like pissing me the hell off.." Merida muttered under her breath, mostly to herself. Without any intention that Jack would actually hear, but unfortunately, he did.

"Yeah, among other stuff. But that was the easiest part. It doesn't really take much energy, if you know what I mean" He directed his words to Elinor who rolled her eyes at what she knew was about to happen. She hadn't been gone for all of it, after all. 

Merida bit her lip and looked at him with a hard expression. "Isn't it time for you to move out now?"

"Merida!" 

"Aww, sounds really tempting, princess. But I'm afraid you're stuck with me a little while longer. You wouldn't kick a sick man out on the street would you?"  
"I'm starting to feel like I would"  
"Kids!" Elinor sighed. She should be used to ignoring this kind of chaos by now. Usually if it wasn't Merida throwing a tantrum it was the triplets being all over the place. However, somehow, she never really got used to them. 

"What's that? I find it hard to hear when I keep getting distracted by your beautiful face" Jack said and sent Merida a nice and bright smile across the table. The triplets were all looking on with amusement. 

Merida grunted loudly and stood up with a piercing stare directed right at him. Jack was a little taken aback by her outrage but held his ground with a mock surprise.  
"What? Why are you mad? That was a nice thing to say" It was in these situations that Eleanor wished that she was more like her husband, who was currently reading the newspaper like nothing was going on around him.

"Oh please, it was so soaked with sarcasm that you could swim in it"

"Aww how can you say that, I would never call you ugly" 

Eleanor had enough and stood up. "Alright you two, I've had enough of this! If you want to continue bickering you would have to take it somewhere else!"  
It got quiet. Merida was still holding her stare at Jack, not backing down even for a second despite Eleanor's outburst. Jack, however, was looking at Eleanor. He actually felt a bit ashamed for making her angry. All he really had wanted was to piss Merida off so that he could have some fun. Because that's what it was to him, all good fun. He never actually thought about that it would annoy anyone else other than Merida. 

"Out!" Eleanor shouted again when neither of them moved. Now Merida stomped out of the room, still with her gaze on Jack while he slowly got out of the chair.

"Sorry. There was an opportunity.. I've been bored..So.."

Eleanor sighed, she didn't want to get mad at him. After all he was a guest to them and a victim of an accident that he still hadn't fully healed from. But she was too used to this, and it was true what she had said. She had had a really good day and she didn't want them to ruin it for her. "I'm sorry, Jack, but right now I don't care what you have to say, just go.." 

And he did. With a slight nod and an apologetic look he turned around and headed to the living room, where Merida was seated in the sofa with her arms crossed. He didn't really feel like trying to go up the stairs just yet, it took a lot of strength to come down, after all. So instead he sat down next to her. He waited a little bit, throwing glances at her just to see if she was looking back, which she wasn't. She wasn't even acknowledging his existence. Then he said...

"Now look what you did. It was a nice dinner, the first one I've had in a long time and you just had to... OW!" 

Okay, so he probably deserved that punch.  
\----  
"Mother, you know that you promised me those Yellow melons that I like so much, but I was just wondering if you could get me some other stuff as well? You see, I was planning on getting a list of things for myself while I was out and since I'm not doing the shopping.." 

Mother Gothel interrupted her with a sigh and held out her hand for Rapunzel to put the list she was holding in. They were both set in the kitchen at the moment after that Rapunzel had spent an hour making a list of things that she could want and that didn't look too suspicious. It mostly contained books, art supplies and some food, but also less obvious ones like school supplies even though it was mid-summer. Mother Gothel noticed this herself.

"That's a lot of stuff, dear, and what do you need school supplies for? The summer break just started?" She said and looked at her with suspicion.

"I know, but.. I already know what to get, and I figured I might as well get it now so I don't have to think about it later" Rapunzel answered. 

Mother Gothel looked down on the list again, skimming it through once more before shaking her head. "I don't know if I have enough money for this, Rapunzel" 

"That's okey, I have some saved that I was going to use for art supplies anyways" She stated and handed her mother some of the money she had saved from helping in the local gadget shop where a big Russian man called North worked. Despite being Russian he was a very kind man who was always happy and laughing. Rapunzel didn't think that she'd ever seen him angry, not even a little bit. Which made him a favourite person among the lot of them. They used to visit him often just to talk and he always welcomed them if they needed some extra money. Which is why Rapunzel once had taken the opportunity to help during the holidays. 

"Well then.. Looks like I have to go now if I'm going to make it to all these stores" Mother Gothel sighed again and went to the hall with Rapunzel trailing closely behind to make sure that she was actually going to leave. She and Flynn had decided that he would wait at their meeting spot until Mother Gothel was actually gone, the city was at the opposite direction so the old house would be a good place to hide for a while. Since he was now waiting, Rapunzel was in a bit of a hurry to get her mother out of the house. 

"Take care now darling, and stay inside will you? I'll be back...in a couple of hours, I suppose" Mother Gothel gave Rapunzel a quick kiss on her forehead before she was out of the house and therefor leaving Rapunzel alone. 

Rapunzel darted directly to the window in time to see her mother disappearing behind the block two houses away. She reckoned that the coast would be clear now and brought out her phone to send away a text to Flynn. She felt nervous and excited at the same time. She didn't do this much, too scared of getting caught and what her mother would say if she found out. But ever since she got together with Flynn she had slowly gotten out of her shell, she dared to go out more, to do things she hadn't done before. It was because of Flynn that she had agreed to follow the gang to the lake in the first place and despite the unfortunate ending, she'd had fun. She still remember the small moment before they found the boy when she had felt free. Like she could do anything from this moment on. She liked that feeling. It made her feel alive.

There was a loud knock on the door that made Rapunzel's heart skip a beat. Soon after the door opened ever so slightly and Flynn peaked his head in to look at Rapunzel with a hint of amusement. 

"She hasn't come back has she? Picked something up?" Rapunzel shakes her head. He could tell she had been startled from his knock which had been the point. Now he opened the door fully and walked up to her and planted a kiss on her lips carefully. Her hands almost immediately went up to his neck and she welcomed his kiss with a slight relief and at the same time let go of her tension with a breath. He always made her feel calm. Even though he was labeled as a troublemaker who didn't care enough to do well in school and schemed to get his way sometime, she trusted him. She knew from experience that he cared for her and that he was on her side so even though a lot of people had advised her to stay away from him, she knew that there was nothing to worry about. After all, he had always been loyal to those he considered friends. 

"Now when we're alone, I'm gonna ask you to come with me on a small adventure" Flynn had pulled away ever so slightly with his hands holding onto her arms. He now looked at her with a smug smile that made Rapunzel a bit suspicious.

"What kind of adventure?" 

"Just a little trip to a house not far from here" Rapunzel's tension returned and she knew that Flynn could feel it by the slight frown on his face.

"You mean, leave the house? But Mother..."

"We have been summoned, and it's at night, your mother won't notice that you're gone. It will only be for a little while" Rapunzel felt a kind of anxiety sneaking up. She didn't know if she wanted to go as far as sneaking out in the middle of the night. If Mother Gothel woke up while she was gone, what would happen then? Though she had to admit she was curious.

"Summoned? By whom?" With this Flynn smiled. A bright and honest smile.

"Only little miss redhead, Merida DunBroch. She wanted us to come over tonight, I bet it has something to do with HIM" Flynn said. He was excited. Merida had called him earlier when he was getting ready to meet Rapunzel. She had sounded excited and mysterious, hinting nothing and everything at the same time. She had told him that she had called all of them over, including Sandy who had been with Aster the moment she called and was just as eager to see what was going on as the rest of them were. Flynn was certain that she had called them over because the boy had awoken and he was excited to meet him, see what kind of person he was. Rapunzel, as it turned out, was too as she was now staring at him with big green eyes and a huge smile. 

"Let's do it!"


	6. Chapter 5

"Now you're sure that you'll be alright? If there's any trouble I will stay behind"

Jack chuckled where he looked up at a fully dressed and packed, but apparently still unsure, Elinor from where he was sitting. "I'm sure, I feel fine and besides, I have Merida here to take care of me" Standing by the entrence to the living room, Merida scoffed.

He just smiled at her teasingly and then turned back to Elinor with suspicion in his look. "Are you sure it's just about me? or do you just not want to go?"

Elinor laughed and bent down to him as if to tell him a secret. "Fergus' mother is a rather terrifying woman. As big and vicious as a dragon, she is" She smiled before standing up again as Fergus could be heard coming down the stairs.

Jack laughed. "I bet she could squash you like a flea if she wanted"

"Yes, that's what I'm afraid of, lad. You don't want to upset her or you're doomed" They both chuckled and turned towards the stairs as they could hear loud shuffeling and gruffing as Fergus made his way down the final steps. His broad figure was packed full with bags hanging on his back and shoulder as well as cramming his arms full.

"Elinor, Let's get this in the car and go. Mother called and I told her we were entering a tunnel as we speak" He chuckled as he kicked open the door with one foot and dropped all the bags in front of the car. Elinor sighed with a smile and turned to Jack with a shrug.

"Well, we better be going then" She stopped in front of Merida and dragged her into a tight hug that Merida hesitantly accepted. "You better call if you need it, lass" Elinor said and released her and brought her hands up to Merida's cheeks. She looked at her with a fond smile to which Merida rolled her eyes. "We'll be fine, mum. It's only two days"

"Yes, but your father seems to think that we're moving in. Something I'll make sure won't happen." She gave Merida a meaningful look that made Merida laugh softly. They both knew how hard it was for Elinor and her mother in law to get a long. The old but roughly built woman was always kind to Merida, but in her opinion, Elinor had been a bad choice. Fergus' mother and she were like night and day but they also shared similarities that made them end up in heated discussions every time they met, their stubborness being one of them. Elinor had lately tried her hardest to keep her composture and to keep the tension light for the sake of the others present. But Fergus' mother made it harder each time.

She gave Merida one last hug and added "Besides, if there's something I've learned through being a doctor, it is that things happen fast. I just want you to be prepared" Elinor smiled and stroked her daughter's cheek one last time before she ushered the triplets out the door and called out goodbye's to Merida and Jack, leaving the two of them alone.

It was unsetteling how quiet it became after the car had left, only the tv's sound filling the room as Merida threw herself down in her father's chair. The two teens didn't say anything but instead let their attention to the tv where a cooking show was on.

The silence and low volume of the tv also helped the sound of Jack's stomach cut through easily. Merida turned to him with a smirk.

"Hungry, are ya?"

Jack smiled sheepisly. "Apparently"

"That's too bad" Merida answered and turned back to the TV which made Jack look at her with a stunned expression before she, without a word, got up from the chair and went to the kitchen.

"Oh, cheeky, aren't we?" Jack called after her with a chuckle. "I would get up and get some myself but I'm afraid I'm just too weak"

In the kitchen, Merida smiled smugly and snorted. "Who said I'd make anything for you?" she called back while she brought out some bread, ham, cheese, ketchup, sliced pineapple and spices. An offended "hey" was called back from the living room that made Merida laugh evilly. It was times like these when she could get him back that she quite enjoyed his teasing. The occasions were however few, most of the time it just pissed her right off.

She figured some warm sandwishes would be enough, she didn't really feel like cooking anything big today. It was easy, delicious and still enough food for a growling stomach. In other words, perfect. It took only a about ten minutes for her to make them and soon she was re-entering the living room with one plate in each hand, one which she put down infront of Jack with a "Sandwishes are alright?"

Jack made a slow attempt at sitting up from his previous sluggish position and gave a short nod. "Yeah, food's food" He said with a small grin and let out a sigh when he had managed to sit up straight. It didn't hurt to move anymore, his lungs and sore muscles had healed enough for that, but he was still constantly tired. A side effect for laying in bed. Elinor had said that his energy would come around soon enough now if he would continue to be as keen on moving as he had been earlier this day when he fought his way down the stairs. Seems his stubborness actually had paid off. Not that Elinor would every directly admit that she had been wrong about wanting to keep him in bed.

Jack was relieved to know that he would be able to move around like normal again soon. Of course, assuming he had before.

He took a bite out of the first sandwish and immediately made a disgusted grimace when the taste of something sweet and juicy filled his mouth. While investigating what that was he caught Merida looking curiously at him. He met her eyes.

"What?" she said. "Did you not like it?"

With the bite still in his mouth he answered. "No it's fine"

She raised her eyebrow at him, obviously she could not be fooled by his words. He hesitated, before deciding to just be honest.

"There's some kind of fruit..?"

"Yeah, pineapple. You didn't like it?"

He only shook his head slowly. Merida huffed in response. "Well that would've been nice to know" She sounded accusing.

Jack swallowed the bite. "I didn't" he said and started picking out the rest of the pineapple from each sandwish. A sudden realisation hit Merida and she mentally facepalmed herself for her own slip-up. To be fair, she didn't actually know how he felt about his condition. If he took offense from her words or if he was even bothered by it. She figured he should be. But if he was, he was good at hiding it.

"Does it bother you?" She said softly, carefully testing new grounds. Paying attention to his reactions in case it was a touchy subject, but when he looked up at her again he was sporting a confused look.

"The pineapple?"

Merida rolled her eyes at his obliviousness at first, before she swallowed and shooked her head no. "Your... condition?"

She could see in his face that he now realised what she was talking about and Merida tensed ever-so-slightly at the idea of actually upsetting him. He had turned away from her and was now staring at the tv, looking thoughful. After a few seconds, he shrugged.

"I guess it should. I haven't actually thought about it too much. I suppose I'm trying to ignore it" He said and flashed her one of his grins that she had seen a lot of these few days. "Which means that, no, It doesn't. At least not yet"

They shared a small smile with each other, but Merida was still being doubtful. For a moment her thoughts wandered to all the people who were supposed to gather her later this night. She wondered for the first time if maybe it would be too much for him, and if it would bring forth something he wasn't yet feeling. She hoped that none of them would try to pry too much but in afterthought, she knew that if anyone was bound to pry too much without thinking, it would've been her. But she had managed to keep the prying to a minimal ammount, meaning she hadn't succeeded in making him uncomfortable, yet.

\-----

A few hours later, when Jack and Merida was sitting side by side on the sofa, lazily watching a show on Animal Planet about monkeys, discovering that Jack wasn't at all fond of them, Merida noticed a group of people creeping up and gathering on her front porch. She cast a subtle look at Jack, hoping that he hadn't noticed them but his eyes was still fixed on the tv, seeming to droop together at any moment.

And on the other side of the door, a bunch of teenagers was standing outside of the DunBroch resident. All anxious and nervous out of their mind even though all of them had been in this house several times before. Almost all of them were gathered now. Rapunzel, Flynn, Hiccup, Astrid, Aster, Tooth and even a mute boy who went by the name of Sandy. He had tagged along out of curiousity more than anything and was now filling the spot of Fishlegs who had been forced to stay and work. They were all rather impressed at how he found the time for anything else other than school and work ever since he took up the job of helping his father at his shop. However he was the only one out of all of them who always had money in his pocket and that was a freedom that made Merida quite jealous.

The sun was setting outside. Because of the summertime the days were longer so even though it was now nearing 2 at night, a bit of sun was sill up and lighting the way around them. The inside of the house almost seemed as dead as the street had it not been for the light in one of the windows coming from a tv. The group of people weren't sure if they dared to knock, afraid to wake someone up that shouldn't be woken. Though after a minute, Hiccup was the first to raise his hand to intend to knock on the door. Before he could reach it, though, the door flew up to show a happy and excited Merida.

"You know you could knock, my parents and the devils aren't home" She said with amusement, leaning against the door with her arms crossed. Hiccup huffed.

"Well how were we supposed to know, that?" Merida rolled her eyes at the same time as she moved out of the way so that the group of people could get in and fit in the large hallway.

"Well the car _is_ missing" She pointed out with a mocking smile and earned a shrug from Hiccup. While she waited for all of them to get their shoes off, Elinor didn't quite like mud on her carpet that covered the entire hall and living room, a voice could be heard.

"MERIDA!"

"ugh.. he's driving me nuts..WHAT?" Merida rolled her eyes and shouted back before looking back at them with an apologetic look. The rest of them looked on with a slight shock.

"Is that..?" They all could silently guess who it was the voice was coming from. After all none of them recognized it from before so they could be certain that it wasn't one of the family members that Merida has told them was away. But it felt weird, because whatever Hiccup had imagined his voice would sound like, that was not it.

"HELP!"

Merida groaned before turning to the group fully and gave them a huge smile.

"Are you guys ready? Let's go see what he wants"

Though they weren't, at least some of them didn't feel ready. To those who were there when they found him this was a moment of realization. To realize that he was a person who was actually alive and who had a personality and a life. When he had been uncounsious he was more of a shell or a puppet. It was different and now it was scaring them to finally find out who he was, or is. The only one who seemed excited and who happily followed Merida to the living room was Sandy. The others hesitantly followed behind.

Merida herself found excitement in the fact that none of them had met Jack when he was awake and first impressions were fun if you were watching from a distance. Another thing that she was silently excited about was Jack's own reaction. She hadn't actually told him about the plans she had been making inviting everyone over to meet him so for all he knew, they were home alone. Up until now she had kept him company in the living room and brought him a cover and pillow when he didn't have the strenght to get back up the stairs. So instead they both decided that he would spend the night on the couch. Jack was greatful for that, after all he had a tv here and wasn't forced to lie in the darkness alone with his thoughts.

"What do you want?" Merida and the others where met with a sight of a boy lazily stretching out a hand for the table without so much as lifting another muscle to reach further.

"Can't.. reach.. thingie.. on the table"

"You mean the remote? You mean you got down the stairs all by yourself and now you can't even stretch to reach the fucking remote?" Merida looked at him with disbelief, crossing her arms.

"That was different"

"How?"

"I didn't have the time to drag you up there, plus.. I wanted to see Elinors face when I completely disobeyed her by getting up of bed despite her orders" Merida actually chuckled at this. Seemed they had something in common!

"I know the feeling... what are you watching anyways?"

"I don't know. A bunch of girls getting naked and taking pictures.."

"And you DON'T want to watch that? What kind of a guy are you?" She said, taking a few steps towards him, standing beside him facing the tv to see what was actually playing.

"Well, to be fair you can't really see anything. They cencored all the good parts"

From the opening of the room, Flynn was silently snickering to himself at that comment. He was right though, a program like Top Model could've been so much better if they hadn't censored it.

"Aww, wee thing, you" Merida commented and hit Jack on his leg so that she could sit down next to him, she cast a glance to the group and was silently beckoning them in. Jack hadn't noticed them yet since all of his attention had been on Merida or the TV.

"It's okey, I've gotten my share of views from you in the shower"

"WHAT!?"

"Relax, I'm only kidding." Jack said with a smile. Next to him he could hear Merida's sigh of relief and he watched her with an amused expression. "I scared you there, didn't I? I mean the bathroom _is_ next to my room so I could technically have constructed a peephole"

"But you haven't.." He could here a hint of doubt in her voice, which he obviously decided to use against her.

Jack chose to be silent at this moment, to leave her guessing. After all he was still unpredictable to her since they had only had a few days to get to know each other. For all she knew he could be one giant perv. And the sneaky type too who makes peepholes and hide them behind a cabinet or install a small spy-camera in the shower curtain.

"Have you!?"

By now, Jack had turned his attention elsewhere and now noticed the group of people standing silently by and watching their conversation play out. "Woah, People!" He exclaimed, ignoring Merida but not entirely by choice only. No, the group of people standing by had actually startled him seeing as he didn't know they had been there at all. He guessed quickly that Merida did though, there were probably her friends. So he decided that it was alright and flashed them a smile.

The most of them were still a little freaked out by the whole situation but at least some of them had the decency to smile and wave. "Hi.." Flynn started but was soon interupted by Merida.

"Have you?!" Merida, though, was still trying to figure out their conversation. Jack sighed.

"Red, you should know by now that I'd say anything to piss you off. I'm not a perv"

"Well how should I know? I barely know you!" Merida scoffed.

"Well neither do I, so I guess we're even" Jack shrugged and once again turned to the group of people greeting them with a small wave and a smile while scanning the group and landing on a short blond guy at the front of the group. He was sporting a kind smile and was waving slightly.

"Hello, Sandy"

"Do you two know each other??" Aster exclaimed, clearly surprised at how he hadn't met Jack before if someone as close to him as Sandy knew him personally. A bit offended too. Sure the little guy didn't talk much, but that didn't mean he didn't tell them things.

"No, I'm just reading his notepad, but that was fun though. Hats off to you, little man" He gave a gesture feighing him tipping a hat off and Sandy returned with a smug smile. Jack liked him already. It was clear that the little guy had a sense of humour and if it was something Jack liked about a person it was the ability for them to have fun.

It grew silent, a silence that grew awkward fast and annoyed Jack to no end. He didn't like silences, especially not when the attention seemed to be all on him. It made him feel nervous and exposed. He rolled his eyes slightly and shot them a smile, deciding to take the first step.

"C'mon people, Don't be so shy. I'm not a biting kind of person"

Hiccup huffed at him. "Well, can you blame us? The last time we saw you you were practically dead, save for Sandy who weren't there" He said and heaved a small sigh before answering Jack's small smile. Seemed that his smile was quite contagious. Jack huffed out a laugh, turning his eyes down for a moment. "So you're the ones who found me, huh?" He glanced up to see heads nodding among the group. Well, now he felt even more exposed, knowing that all of these people, save for Sandy, had seen him at his probably weakest moment. He supposed that he must've scarred them pretty bad, since they seemed to think that he had been dead.

With a sigh he gathered himself and lifted his head to meet a bunch of curious eyes, a smile plastered on his face. "Okay, let's put previous horrid events behind us and start over. My name's Jack, who are you?"

\---

Conversations had floated smoothly after a while, several of them playing out at once. Music had been on in the background and Merida and Rapunzel has even made a whole night of it all, making snacks and drinks for the group.

People had soon discovered that Jack was quite a chatty guy. He always seemed to have something to say and it was easy to keep up a conversation with him. Even Sandy managed to chat for an hour alone with him, despite having to write.

Flynn had taken a particular liking to him, finding out their share of humour and likeness of pranks. The only downside to this whole thing was that while Jack has learned quite a lot of his fellow rescuers, they had learned fairly little about him. It had been clear from early on how severe his memory-loss had been and that he was himself discovering new things about himself all the time.

No one has actually dared to talk about the events in question. Seeing Jack at such a happy state was not something anyone of them wanted to disturb, imagining how hard the whole thing must be on him. That was before Rapunzel and him started talking.

"So.. how do you feel? About.. everything?" The question was expected, but it still managed to catch Jack off-guard. Her huge green eyes were filled with curiosity anticipating his answer. She was prepared to give him any support he might need.

Jack took a quick look around, heaving a sigh. He knew that a lot of them could hear them and he had guessed that this was a question that they had been waiting for him to answer, sooner or later.

"Honestly, I'm okay. I mean, thinking too much can make any situation tough and the first day I had a lot of time for thinking" He added a chuckle, letting her know that he actually meant what he had said, he was okay and he wanted everyone to believe that. "But I'm alright. Elinor has taken good care of me and I trust her when it comes to my memories so.." He paused, letting out a sigh. "Even though everything might not be completely fine right now, I trust that it will be" He gave her a comforting smile which she answered. She had believed him, but either way she couldn't imagine the situation he was in. Not remembering who he was or if he even had a family, she wasn't sure how she would've handled that herself. Just the thought of it scared her. For all Jack knew, he was an orphan, none of the others where. Even Flynn has had foster parents since he was a little boy.

She decided to press on just a little bit more. "What did you think about?"

The smile Jack had had dissapeared as fast as the question was formed. For a second Rapunzel was worried that she had taken it to far, but as she studied him, she noticed that the frown he had was a thoughtful one.

"I think I was just trying to make sense of it all. Trying to figure out how it all happened. From what I hear I was alone, right?" Rapunzel nodded. "It just, seemed odd to me. I can't explain why I would be there alone in the first place and the more I try to dig for a memory of it, the more I realize how little I actually remember. And it gets really frustrating" He noticed Merida sitting down next to him, joining in on the conversation followed by Hiccup and Astrid and later on Flynn.

Jack didn't mind the attention this time. He supposed that if he would talk about this, it was better that he didn't have to repeat himself. And Rapunzel wasn't the only one trying out new grounds regarding the subject. Jack himself didn't entirely know what he would be okay to talk about, so now he was letting go, if just slowly, to see how far he could go without it being too much to him.

"The only thing I actually remember when I woke up was my name, and now when I think about it, who's to say that it's actually my name and not just someone else that I just happen to remember?" He chuckled slightly, mostly because of the chaos of it all. His mind was a hurricane rumbling all his thoughts together destroying them. All that was left was just a pile of shit where some glimpses of memories might still be left, hiding somewhere.

"But the most frustrating part of it all is that I have no idea if anyone will come looking for me"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't entirely happy with this chapter, so it might be a bit messy.. and I'm very sorry for that.   
> I'm starting to doubt my writing skills the more I write, and it's actually quite awful to feel that way, but I'm trying...   
> And I have promised not to give up on this story, and I wont!

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry that the first chapter's a bit short, see it as an introduction more than an actual chapter. I promise the next chapters will be longer and more eventful. And if someone's OOC I'm sorry about that too.


End file.
